India, China: Emerging Healthcare Destinations

Bangalore: India and China are emerging as top global healthcare expansion destinations, as per a UPS 2012 "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" healthcare survey. China and India are the two most populous countries and the UPS is looking at it as the major healthcare opportunity markets in Asia with growing healthcare needs.

The survey says "Decision makers in Asia are heavily focused on global expansion in the next three to five years. China and India are the fastest growing healthcare markets in Asia," as reported by The Financial Express.

China is the top expansion destination over the next three to five years for global healthcare executives, followed by the United States, Brazil and India.

There is a considerable jump in planned technology investments in Asia around web ordering systems, with 66 percent now preparing to invest in the next three to six years, and e-pedigree/ serialization technologies, with 59 percent looking to invest in the next three to five years.

In Asia, it was noted that the top business concern is increasing competition, and almost half of the respondents say access to global markets or new customer bases is a concern.

Lim Bee Koong, director, Healthcare Strategy, Asia Pacific Region said "More than half of Asia's healthcare decision makers surveyed have said that increasing competition is their top concern," as reported by the Financial Express.

Further, as per the survey U.S. healthcare executives express caution about the state of the healthcare industry at the time of the survey. Executives are identifying upcoming challenges and seeing a need to develop strategies in response.

Decision makers in Asia are heavily focused on global expansion in the next three to five years (88 percent), while other top investment strategies include increasing usage of new distribution channels (77 percent) and new technologies (71 percent).